Football Poets

Green flags and banners
Songs of pride and joy.
The holy ground has been blessed again,
With a victory from the bhoys.
Nakamura’s spectacular goal,
Raised the roof at Celtic Park.
While big Jan’s winner at the e […]

Tears of angels fell on Liverpool’s streets,
Waves of the Mersey woke from their sleep,
The Liver Bird’s head hung in grief,
Hillsborough’s terracing became a thief.

Nothing can soothe a mother’s broken heart
A […]

Staunch in his faith
While devout to the game
A Calton bhoy by birth,
Tommy Burns is his name.

A left foot with immaculate talent,
Committed to Celtic on the pitch.
His prayers, as a boy, were answered
When he […]

I am coming home to Paradise my friend,
For it has been many a year since I have seen
My boyhood heroes play at Parkhead,
Wearing the proud emerald green.

I will say goodbye to a foreign land
That welcomed and […]

I took my son to Parkhead
To show him where the Celtic played.
I placed a scarf around his neck
And a Celtic cap upon his head.

We strolled along the Gallowgate
With the rain falling from the sky.
But the […]

Ramelton, Donegal, in the north west of Ireland,
Felt the hardship and the pain of the potato famine.
As the poor and the wretched fled to foreign shores
On the coffin ships they boarded, their pride, they […]

Hail Hail Celtic
We sang as very young boy,
When growing up in the Garngad,
Possilpark or Maryhill.

Our first Celtic strip we treasured,
As we wore it every day.
On the backcourt we would kick a ball […]

Sadness cradles our sorrowful heart

As the angels in heaven weep,

The fans of Fir Park silently pray

For ‘Uncle Phil’ who gently sleeps.

The mourning sky over north Lanarkshire

Sheds a tear over the cla […]

On a Christmas Eve’s night,
On a snow covered pitch
Two teams were picked on
Who wore Celtic or Rangers strips,
Hats and gloves that were worn,
Were tattered and old
As players stood shivering on the field, […]

Every Christmas I remember,
Sleepless Christmas Eve nights;
I remember that our mantelpiece was covered
With stockings of green & white.

Every Christmas would find me dreaming
Of the presents beneath the tree, […]

The angel Gabriel
Paused in his flight,
Settled on Parkhead’s roof
To watch the green & white.
The songs of Glasgow Celtic
Warmed his angelic soul,
As he soared to heaven
Rejoicing at Massimo Donati’s goal.

There was great excitement,
Filled with pleasure and joy,
Songs were sung in harmony
Of Garngad’s Irish Bhoy.

Children ran through the street
Relating the news, expanding the story.
How Celtic won again at P […]

When Brother Walfrid came to Glasgow
And settled in the old east end,
He would build a team for the diocese
That sheltered Irish immigrants,
The players of Maley, McCallum and Kelly
Proudly wore the Celtic […]

Most children are reared on the team of their fathers
While being led to Mass by the hand of their mothers.
Playing football behind a desolate, tenement back court
Was were as a 5 year old, against painted goals, […]

Goals from Jimmy Quinn
Made Parkhead sing,
It was the imagination of Jinky
Playing on the wing.

It was the presence of Dalglish
That other teams feared,
And the captaincy of McNeil
That safeguarded Celtic’s r […]

The city of Glasgow woke up this morning
Hoping that the sun would be bright and blazing,
As the Champions League had returned once more
When AC Milan entered last night, through Parkhead’s door.

Along the G […]

Songs of joy and and songs of celebration
Echoed on the terracing of old Hampden,
And crucified while standing firm on his goal line,
Stood the Rangers goalie, George Niven.

Fifty years ago in the month of […]

Game 1
Celtic 1 v Racing Club 0

In October of 1967
Racing Club of Argentina came to Hampden
To face the mighty Glasgow Celtic
For football’s World Club Championship.
The South American Champions
Brought their […]

A Parkhead pilgrim
Stood at the Holy Ground
Watching the Glasgow Celtic
Absorbing the songs and the sounds.

He travelled to the east end of Glasgow
Wearing his colours of green & white.
He walked through the […]

My father, he said, we were moving away
To make our home in the U S of A,
I cried in my sleep and I cried in my dreams
No more would I see the bhoys in emerald green.

I travelled to Parkhead for the very last […]